Old School RuneScape finally feels fair again as Jagex bans 6.2 Million bots

Old School RuneScape is finally winning against the bot invasion. Scapers can finally breathe easy in 2026. RuneScape has made a big comeback. After once rising from the ashes in 2013, the game was invaded by automated bots farming gold and resources and hoarding spots where real Scapers should be.

Caves were crowded with bots, the in-game economy fluctuated wildly, and Ironman mode runners became pretty much the norm. However, things changed this year, as areas once hoarded by bots are now empty and peaceful. Scapers are now reporting empty worlds, and Old School RuneScape feels fair for once.

A bot-free paradise?

RuneScape enthusiast and investigator SirPugger, who has been on the front lines exposing major bot operations, stated, “For the first time in 20 years of playing this game, I did not find a single bot here.”

Another RuneScape YouTuber and market watcher, FlippingOldSchool, also gave his two cents and shared his analysis of RuneScape’s shifting economy: “Since the beginning of this year, something has changed in how Jagex bans bots. This has caused major changes in the Old School RuneScape economy.”

A long-term strategy to restore balance

British video game developer and publisher Jagex, the company behind RuneScape and Old School RuneScape, has always been cracking down on botters, which has turned into a cat-and-mouse situation.

Over the years, Jagex has aggressively improved its bot detection system, and in 2026 alone, it has banned over 6.2 million bot accounts, effectively burning trillions of gold from the in-game economy.

As a result, prices of heavily botted items have stabilized back to where they once were, climbing by 40–90%. Areas like Green Dragons in the Wilderness and Black Chinchompa hunting grounds, which were once hotspots for bot farmers, are now empty.

Despite all of this, a few spam bots are roaming the free-to-play areas like Misthalin, Asgarnia, Karamja, and the Wilderness, running basic scripts. Bot farmers haven’t vanished from OSRS and RuneScape altogether.

The remaining bot farmers have pivoted to other methods or gone completely silent, holding massive account backups ready for when the heat dies down. Still, the feeling that OSRS and RuneScape have changed for the better is genuine.

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